.375 Holland and Holland Magnum

The .375 Holland & Holland Magnum is a medium-bore rifle cartridge. The .375 H&H was only the second cartridge ever to feature a belt, now common among magnum rounds. On these new rimless cartridges the belt replaced the rim in ensuring the correct headspace, which otherwise might be unreliable, given the narrow shoulder of the cartridge case. The British company Holland & Holland introduced the cartridge in 1912 as the .375 Belted Rimless Nitro-Express. It initially used cordite propellant which was made in long strands – hence the tapered shape of this cartridge, which also ensured smooth chambering and extraction from a rifle’s breech. The .375 H&H often is cited as one of the most useful all-round rifle cartridges, especially in shooting large and dangerous game. With relatively light bullets in the region of 235 to 270 grains (15 to 17 g), it is a flat-shooting, fairly long-range cartridge ideal for use on light to medium game, whereas with heavy bullets of 300 grains (19 g) and greater, it has the punch necessary for large, thick-skinned dangerous game. In many regions with thick-skinned dangerous game animals, the .375 H&H is seen as the minimum acceptable caliber. African game guides, professional hunters, and cullers of dangerous game have repeatedly voted the .375 H&H as their clear preference for an all-round caliber if they could only have one rifle. A similar preference has been expressed by Alaskan game guides for brown bear and polar bear country. Unlike what is seen in most calibers, many .375 H&H rifles also achieve nearly the same point of impact over a wide range of bullet weights at all commonly used distances, further simplifying a professional hunter’s choice in selecting different grain bullets based upon the game hunted by requiring fewer scope or sight adjustments, which further serves to popularize the .375 H&H Magnum among professional hunters. [Wikipedia]